Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog

Category: computing

Much of the encryption world today depends on the challenge of factoring large numbers, but scientists now say they’ve created the first five-atom quantum computer with the potential to crack the security of traditional encryption schemes.

In traditional computing, numbers are represented by either 0s or 1s, but quantum computing relies on atomic-scale units, or “qubits,” that can be simultaneously 0 and 1 — a state known as a superposition that’s far more efficient. It typically takes about 12 qubits to factor the number 15, but researchers at MIT and the University of Innsbruck in Austria have found a way to pare that down to five qubits, each represented by a single atom, they said this week.

Using laser pulses to keep the quantum system stable by holding the atoms in an ion trap, the new system promises scalability as well, as more atoms and lasers can be added to build a bigger and faster quantum computer able to factor much larger numbers. That, in turn, presents new risks for factorization-based methods such as RSA, used for protecting credit cards, state secrets and other confidential data.

Read more

Knowledge of how DNA folds and bends could offer new perspective on how it is handled within cells while also aiding in the design of DNA-based nano-scale devices, says a biomedical engineer at Texas A&M University whose new motion-based analysis of DNA is providing an accurate representation of the molecule’s flexibility.

The model, which is shedding new light on the physical properties of DNA, was developed by Wonmuk Hwang, associate professor in the university’s Department of Biomedical Engineering, and his Ph.D. student Xiaojing Teng. Hwang uses computer simulation and theoretical analysis to study biomolecules such as DNA that carry out essential functions in the human body. His latest model, which provides a motion-based analysis of DNA is detailed in the scientific journal ACS Nano. The full article can be accessed at http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acsnano.5b06863.

In addition to housing the genetic information needed to build and maintain an organism, DNA has some incredibly interesting physical properties that make it ideal for the construction of nanodevices, Hwang notes. For example, the DNA encompassed within the nucleus of one human cell can extend to four feet when stretched out, but thanks to a number of folds, bends and twists, it remains in a space no bigger than one micron – a fraction of the width of a human hair. DNA also is capable of being programmed for self-assembly and disassembly, making it usable for building nano-mechanical devices.

Read more

Don’t let the title mislead you — Quantum is not going to require AI to operate or develop it’s computing capabilities. However, what is well known across Quantum communities is that AI will greatly benefit from the processing capabilities & performance of Quantum Computing. There has been a strong interest in marrying the 2 together. However, Quantum maturity gap and timing has not made that possible until recently resulting from the various discoveries in microchip development, programming language (Quipper) development, Q-Dots Silicon wafers, etc.

Researchers at the University of Vienna have created an algorithm that helps plan experiments in this mind-boggling field.

Read more

Much of the Quantum Internet technology has been in testing at Los Alamos. And, China has stepped up it’s own efforts in Quantum Internet and Computing in order to replace their whole infrastructure before the US and anyone else does due to both the opportunity as well as the threat of not being on Quantum.
first.

The next 5 years will prove for US and it’s allies a critical period. And, their real challenge is how quickly the US can mature the technology & how soon they can onboard everyone that are high targets for less friendly government backed hackers.

The researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) call their scalable quantum computer ‘the beginning of the end for encryption schemes’.

Read more

Brain-to-brain communication is becoming a reality, says Andrea Stocco, who sees a future where minds meet to share ideas.

You are working on brain-to-brain communication. Can one person’s thoughts ever truly be experienced by another person?

Each brain is different. And while differences in anatomy are relatively easy to account for, differences in function are difficult to characterise. And then we have differences in experience – my idea of flying could be completely unlike your idea of flying, for example. When you think about flying, a bunch of associated experiences come into your mind, competing for your attention. We somehow need to strip away the individual differences to grasp the basic, shared factors.

But it seems possible. Other researchers have been able to use information collected from a group of people to make surprisingly successful, if basic, predictions about what another individual is thinking.

What do you need to transmit information between brains?

The idea is to record one person’s brain activity using a non-invasive device such as an EEG, which involves wearing a cap of electrodes. A computer program filters out what is thought to be the relevant brain activity, and this is recreated in another person using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) – a non-invasive technique that induces an electrical current in their brain.

Read more

He pointed out that Horizon Robotics will finish designing its first AI chip for smart home appliances by June and make it commercially available by early 2017.

Mainland Chinese start-up Horizon Robotics, founded by the former head of online search giant Baidu’s Institute of Deep Learning, claims it is on pace to bring chips with built-in artificial intelligence (AI) technology to market.

“General processors are too slow for AI functions. A dedicated chip will dramatically increase the speed of these functions,” Yu Kai, the founder and chief executive of Horizon Robotics told the South China Morning Post.

Founded in Beijing in July, Horizon Robotics is developing chips and software that attempt to mimic how the human brain solves abstract tasks, such as voice and image recognition, that are difficult for regular computer programmes. It also makes sensors for smart devices.

Read more

The price of SSDs is continuing to drop, and they’re becoming an ever-more tempting proposition compared to traditional spinning disks, according to a new report.

DRAMeXchange, which is a division of analyst firm TrendForce, produces a quarterly report detailing the prices PC vendors pay for SSDs, and it showed that both MLC-based and TLC-based SSDs dropped considerably in price.

MLC-based drives dropped by around 10 to 12%, and TLC-based SSD prices sank by 7 to 12% in the first quarter of 2016.

Read more

Something for everyone to keep a closer eye on in the coming year/s — And, they are indeed well on their way with Quantum and their partnership with Australia. Australia (as we recall) has been the one country outside the US and Canada that has made incredible progress in Quantum Computing especially introducing in Nov 2015 their discovery in developing a machine language for the Quantum platform.

BEIJING (AP) — China’s government has highlighted big data, encryption technology and “core technologies” such as semiconductors as the key elements of its push to grow into a tech powerhouse, according to a new five-year plan released Saturday that envisages the Internet as a major source of growth as well as a potential risk.

Read more